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Daisy Has An Adventure

Well, this morning just a little after 4 am, I got up to work on some things for the shop. Our dog, Daisy (a mix of Great Pyrenees and something), asked to go out into our backyard. Well she waited all of 2 minutes and then immediately scratched the back door to come inside. I was thinking, "Wow she sure is efficient at going potty this morning, cause normally she decides that she MUST bark at anything and EVERYTHING in the backyard, thus causing me to stamp my foot and growl, "DAISY.....GET.....IN....THE.....HOUSE" as slowly and articulated as I can muster. Anybody else been there? Okay back to task. So I'm thinking that Daisy is learning some good manners....go out, go potty, come back! Well, BOY was I wrong. As soon as she raced back into the kitchen, the stench hit me and almost brought me to my knees. She immediately started rolling on the floor and whimpering and she was drooling excessively. She looked like she was gonna vomit and I can honestly say at this point, I TOTALLY understood. I mean most of us have probably gotten a whiff of skunk when we are driving down the road but as we pass and move away from the stench, it quickly abates. Well I am sorry to say it does NOT work like that otherwise. MY WORD! I had to open the windows and front door and turn on the whole house fan(THANK GOD FOR THE HOUSE FAN!) Skunk spray is something awful up close and personal and had a mixture of sulfur and garlic amongst other smells. I didn't even GET sprayed and I could smell the stench on my clothes and throughout the house. UGH! So apparently the skunk had decided it had definitely had enough, since Daisy had been harassing it on and off in our backyard for the last few weeks. It definitely got her good. Well, you may be thinking, "What in the world did she do to clean the dog?" Well, I unfortunately had to put Daisy back outside(at this point, I figured a smart skunk would be loooooong gone!) and then I went to the Internet to search, "How to clean skunk spray!" Well, the biggest consensus seemed to be a solution of hyrdrogen pyroxide, baking soda and dish soap. Well, I had to make an early morning run to the 24 hour Walgreens because I only had a tiny bit of pyroxide left. I got back quickly and went to work. ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS SOLUTION MUST BE USED IMMEDIATELY! NEVER EVER STORE IT BECAUSE IT IS VERY VOLATILE AND BUILDS UP PRESSURE IF PUT IN A CLOSED CONTAINER, THUS CAUSING IT TO EXPLODE! IT IS ABSOLUTELY SAFE TO USE, BUT THE HYDROGEN PYROXIDE PRODUCES A CHEMICAL REACTION WITH THE BAKING SODA! PLEASE BE SAFE! I MIXED MINE IN AN OPEN MOP BUCKET! According to the article the solution works best when it is in within 1-2 hours after being sprayed. Skunk spray is actually an oil, so I figured good old fashioned Dawn would cut the oil best. Quick chemistry lesson: It turns out that skunk spray consists of sulfur-containing chemicals called thiols, usually called mercaptans. The reason that I smelled garlic in the mix? Well, garlic contains thiols as well!:) So wearing rubber gloves, I mixed my solution and scrubbed her down. It starts to smell slightly different when the peroxide hits the skunk spray and starts neutralizing it. She stayed VERY still throughout her bath, even though normally she tries to escape! After a good scrub down, I let her sit for 5 minutes! Soooooo after she sat I rinsed her thoroughly and TA DA: NO MORE SKUNK SMELL! Whew, I was absolutely relieved to say the least! If you find yourself in need of a de-skunk spray concoction, look no further than this officially tested recipe below!De-Skunk Recipe1 quart of 3% hyrdrogen pyroxide1/4 cup of baking soda(although you can increase this for a bigger dog/person, I actually used 1/2 cup)1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap which can also be increased to 1 tbsp(Since skunk spray is an oil, make sure to get a dish soap that is an excellent degreaser! I used the blue Dawn!)NOTE: Since Daisy is a bigger dog, I doubled the recipe! I used 2 quarts of 3% hyrdrogen pyroxide, 1 cup of baking soda, and probably added too much soap(1/4 cup)!:)

1.) Wearing rubber gloves, mix all ingredients in an open container, such as a mop bucket! Use immediately! DO NOT STORE THIS MIXTURE IN A CLOSED CONTAINER!

2.) Using a washcloth, start scrubbing the mixture into your dogs fur, being careful to avoid the eyes and mouth! Let sit for 3-5 minutes, then rinse well! If this doesn't work then you might have to repeat, but I only had to do it once.